Backstage Pass: Last Call (The Backstage Pass Rock Star Romance Book 6) (5 page)

BOOK: Backstage Pass: Last Call (The Backstage Pass Rock Star Romance Book 6)
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CHAPTER
9

 

Kerri gave me a wicked set of instructions and I was pretty sure I knew how my landscaping guys felt now. Furniture started arriving and it was a crazy race to get it all in the house. Then the thunderclouds that had been building all day decided to move closer and the smell of rain was heavy in the air. I wasn’t too worried about it making a muddy mess in the yard, but then Kerri flipped out on the furniture movers. “You guys, you’ve got to get all this in here before the rain starts. I’ve got brand new Berber carpet in the bedrooms and I’m not about to pay to have them cleaned.”

We all kick
ed it into gear and I tried not to point out that I was the one who’d left the most foot prints. I think she noticed but didn’t say anything. The carpet guys finished in the living room just as we got the last piece of furniture in, then she was shooing that truck out of the driveway and guiding the next one in. I had no idea she was even remotely this organized. Last week I’d had six different trucks backed up along the main road and a right mess in the middle that had almost turned into a fistfight. I really could have used her organization and while I was carrying some pretty fancy lamps up the stairs, I tried to think through all the things I had left on my own punch list that she could help me with.

“In here.” She ca
ught me at the top and directed me into what was now apparently our spare bedroom. I followed her in and jerked to a halt. “How in the hell?” I blinked and looked around but she’s transformed this into a complete oasis. I hugged her to me. “Holy shit, Kerri. This is frigging fantastic.”

She grinned and preened
beneath my praise. “Thanks. It turned out pretty awesome.” She took one of the lamps and set it perfectly on the edge of the table, then turned it a few inches to the left. “It’s pretty easy when you have an unlimited budget.”

I grimace
d. “Yeah, let’s hope that really is the case.”

She laughed
. “I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t tell you no about anything. You’re smart to do all this now while he’s still trying to get you to marry him.”

I fidget
ed. I hadn’t thought about that and I really hoped he didn’t think that was what I was doing. She hurried around the bed. “I was just teasing, Sash. He’s not going to think that. He’s got more money than he knows what to do with, and neither one of you have been into material stuff at all. I’m pretty sure all this stuff is just going to be wasted on you.”

I glance
d around the room. “Well, it looks amazing.”

She hooked
her arm through mine and we walked into the other bedroom. “I wasn’t sure what to do with this one. I was thinking about leaving it mostly empty, you know, in case, maybe.”

My hand
swung up to cover my stomach and I could already guess what she was trying to say. I wasn’t sure I was ready to dedicate a room to a nursery.

“Sorry,” she says softly.

I dropped my head to hers and we stood there hugging. “Some days go by like nothing and I don’t even think about it, but then other days I think about how much I’d really grown attached to our baby and how big he would be now.”

“You’d be almost to your due date, wouldn’t you?”

I nodded. “Another month, but yeah, I’d be a whale by now.”

“I can’t believe how fast it’s gone by.”

I laughed. “Yeah, you’ve been a little busy.”

A blush stained her cheeks. “So true. I feel bad about that.”

I bumped my hip against hers. “I thought we talked about that.”

She sighed
. “We did, but that doesn’t mean that I still don’t feel bad.”

“I guarantee I’m going to screw something up for you sometime in the future.”

We laughed and left the room. She paused and pulled the door closed. “How about for now we just push pause on this room and when you guys decide if you want it for a recording studio or a nursery or whatever, just let me know.” She grinned devilishly. “I have the perfect furniture picked out for all three.”

“I’d be surprised if you didn’t.”

Another wave of furniture came through just as the carpet guys left and we managed to get the living room and dining room set up but she still had an entire carload of trinkets that she wanted to bring in and add as finishing touches. I was starting to run out of gas, so we ordered pizza.

I
got five larges and offered to feed all our workers, which endeared them to me forever. I guess I should have done that weeks ago. The first drops of rain started and we all moved beneath my new trellis that the guys planted three giant wisteria plants next to. They hadn’t even come close to covering it, but it managed to keep the big stuff off us, and honestly, it felt pretty refreshing. Kerri scooted her chair inside and we talked through the open door. “How much do you have left to haul in?”

“All you
r bedding should be here in the next thirty minutes, but I was thinking about pushing them to tomorrow.”

“Are you getting tired?”

She shrugged. “No, I just don’t want to try battling this rainstorm.” I handed her a wad of napkins and she wiped her mouth, then brushed her hands together to get the last of the grease off.

“You think we’re still going to make it before Jesse gets here?” Personally, I
thought the place looked fantastic and close enough for me, but she was a bit of a stickler on making sure a project was one hundred percent perfect before she called it finished. One time she wouldn’t even let me use our kitchen when she was doing the drapes and her sewing machine jammed up.

The movers brought
in the last few pieces and Kerri fretted over the teeny raindrops, polishing them off with a rag while I wandered around the house. She really had completely transformed it and I could see myself living here.

I walk
ed to the balcony that overlooked the living room. I could see through the huge windows all the way to the back of the yard. Obviously I loved that part of the yard because I’d built it, but what would I feel about it in ten, fifteen, twenty years? Would Jesse still be touring then, and would we still be having phone sex while I raced around trying to keep up with a bunch of teenagers?

The thought made
me smile. I may not have it all together right now, or have any freaking clue which direction I needed to go, or even what my next step might be, but I knew that I wanted them to lead to this house. And the guy who bought it for me.

He
was going to have to stop doing that, too. Maybe I’d better tell him that tonight when he got here. I wondered if he worried about me not loving him enough and that was why he was always trying to buy it.

I spread my fingers and look
ed at my ring finger on my right hand. I twisted it left and right. What would it look like if I’d have said yes and let him slip that engagement ring on my finger? It had been my favorite, a square cut rock, and would have nearly dwarfed my finger. I hadn’t thought then to wonder when he’d picked it out, but with all the traveling and touring he’d been doing, he must have made the tour bus drive into a jewelry store somewhere along the way.

I was being a ninny and I knew it. I should have just blurted out a big yes and worried about all this other stuff later. There
were no guarantees in this life. Holy cow did I know that. Whether I was talking to Rocker Dad, or regular Dad, or Mom, they all thought they knew what was best for me, and I appreciated their advice, but in the end, I was going to have to take a leap and I doubted if I was ever going to feel zero hesitation. There were no guarantees, but he’d come from a great family and I had to trust that he wanted to make one like that of his own. I loved his parents and his brothers, and obviously Miranda was one of my most favorite people. They definitely helped tip the scales.

But what about school?

I held out my hand again and twisted it this way and that in the wobbly light of the candles below. There were no sparkles and shimmers to ignite the ceiling and walls into a makeshift disco ball of the room, but there could be. With one simple word, I could have a massive rock on my finger that was big enough to tip me over if I wanted.

This morning while I’d been waiting on my crew to show up, I’d surfed the university site while I drank my coffee and
figured out that I could take all but one of my remaining classes via their online portal. That sure gave me a ton of freedom, and if we figured out his tour schedule and I could work my single class around it, I wouldn’t be stuck at home the entire time that he was on tour. First, we’d have to do something to make amends between Scout and me before I went on the road with them, but I had a feeling Scout would eventually come around. I mean, what kind of moron would jeopardize his position on a band that was constantly skyrocketing up the charts. I sure knew that was a volatile position and you had to ride it hard on the way up, because it always always came back down. I’d seen my dad wrestle with that a handful of times and it had never been pretty.

Was I willing to be right next to Jesse while he went through that? And would we survive it? Being in a relationship with a rocker on the upswing was insanely easy. The money was good, and other than the
panty-throwing groupies the only down side was the sheer amount of travel and workaholic time in the studio. But all that made them easy to live with and fairly stress free. But he’d never really had any challenges with his career and I was worried that when one did come he might take it really hard. They’d had a miraculous rise to the top and I had every confidence that Ainsley would do an awesome job of managing their career and keeping the lows to a minimum.

At the end of the day, I really didn’t want to do this life without him. We’d gone through some serious shit and I knew that I kept coming back to that
, but it was so true. I wasn’t sure anyone had gone through as many hiccups and obstacles as we had. And for the most part—Scout and drunk groupies excluded—we’d done okay. We’d always come back to what was important, and that was our relationship.

While I was busy musing, my phone rang and I answered. Jesse’s voice crooned on the other end, making a warm shiver trip across my skin. I stared at the unfinished house and frowned.

“Everything okay?” he asked, hearing my hesitation.

“Yeah, yes! Of course.”
I wasn’t sure I could have everything ready by the time he got here, but maybe if I could come up with a lie—not that the last one had worked out so well—but I didn’t want him speeding to get here. “I was just thinking about having Axel and Kerri over for dinner tonight.”

“E
ntertaining already?” He laughed and I felt the burn of embarrassment color my cheeks. Even though it wasn’t true, he didn’t have to make fun of my lack of Martha Stewart-ness.

Now I just might have to invite them over to prove that I could throw a dinner party. “As a matter of fact, I am.”

His voice dropped. “I’m just teasing you, babe. I know you order a mean pizza.”

The fact that we’d done exactly that didn’t help his case any and I needed to get us off this subject or I’d be cranky when he got here. “You still coming home tonight?”

“Mmm. Yes! I have a little bit of work to finish up, but then I’m headed your way. I can’t wait to see you.”

I held the phone closer to my cheek. “Me
neither. You can even tease me about my cooking when you get here.”

He laughed. “Sorry baby. I shouldn
’t tease you.”

“It’s fine. Just get here.”
We hung up and I watched the sun set across the sky outside, turning the stormy sky a fantastic shade of purpley-pink. The front door slammed and then Kerri walked across the foyer, pausing below me and tipping her chin up. “You doing okay?”

I grinned and set my hands on the
baluster. “Yeah, just thinking.’”

“Oh?”

“I’m getting closer to making a decision, I think.”

“Closer?”

I nodded. “Not quite there yet.”

She smiled. “Well in the meantime, come help me unload my car. All your burly guys finished eating all our pizza and left.”

I laughed and jogged down the stairs.

 

CHAPTER
10

 

My phone rang just as I was closing down my computer. We’d reworked a few parts of the ballad but Tate and I were both really happy with it. And with Bean, except Tate was going to break the news to him about his stage name tomorrow. We’d thrown around a couple good ones, but Bean was just not going to work.

He’d practiced with us for another hour and I’d called Ainsley to let her know what we thought, but I’d had to leave a
message. I leaned over in my chair and grabbed my phone, noticing it was her calling me back.

“Hey.”

“Hi. I got your message about Bean. I’m so glad he’s going to work out. You’re more than welcome to keep interviewing guys, but I think he’s got the perfect temperament to fit with you and Tate.”

“Yeah, I agree. Think you can find me another guitarist?”

“Really? You ready to add one? I figured I was going to have to fight with you about that.”

I laughed. “No. I think we’re ready to expand the songs into something with more depth. Tate and I recorded an awesome one today—I’ll send you the file so you can listen and tell me what you think—but I really want to add another riff on there with an electric.”

“Great! I’ll put some feelers out. I don’t want to go jeopardizing what you have with the three of you until you guys can go on the road, but let’s plan on adding someone at the beginning of the year before we release your new album.”

I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. That was exactly what Tate and I had talked
about doing today. I liked that she was always on the same page.

“Listen,
there’s one other reason I called.”

I stiffened and glanced at the time. I needed to get out of here if I was going to make it home to
Sasha at a reasonable hour. “Do I want to hear this?”

“It’s nothing big, and you don’t have to do it if you don’t want, it’s a pretty low profile
event, but I had another band booked for a charity event for the children’s cancer ward up at the U.”

I waited, not willing to say a thing that would commit me to something that would screw up seeing
Sasha. I’d planned this perfectly and had busted my ass for the last two days to give us all a three day weekend we so desperately needed. Tate had already taken off to go spend some time with his parents for his grandma’s birthday. “And?”

“And they flaked on me.”

I sighed. Fuck. “When is it?”

“That’s the thing,
it’s tonight. In an hour.”

“Nope.” I stood and flipped out the lights, thankful that I could be truthful and not have to worm my way out of something like that. Normally I liked doing those kind of events, but I was no good without the guys. “My entire band just took the weekend off, otherwise you know we would.”

“Well that’s the thing. It’s a silent auction, for a date with the lead singer.”

I groaned. “
Ainsley, are you fucking kidding me? You know how I feel about that shit.”

“It
’s for kids with cancer, Jesse. Come on, you’ll probably have to go out to the hospital cafeteria with some little girl who only has a month to live. I think it’s the least you can do.”

“Don’t guilt me.” I flipped the lights back on and leaned on the back of a chair. Fuck. I
didn’t want to but I knew Sasha would understand. I just hated putting her second, even if it was for a good cause.

I
f I hurried, I could still make it to both. It would put me home late, but I’d still be able to wake up with her in my arms. Dammit. “I don’t know, Ainsley. I’ve got plans. You’ve worked the piss out of us for months.”

“I know, Jesse. If
there was anyone else, I wouldn’t ask.”

BOOK: Backstage Pass: Last Call (The Backstage Pass Rock Star Romance Book 6)
10.3Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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